Merrett is closer to a power athlete than the other 2. He is much much quicker.
Shows that his gut running and high KMs is created by his work ethic.
Heppell and Gaff are long distance plodders.
Very good plodders I might add.
Merrett played a few roles one off the back of square as extra mis. Centre square and sweeper at boundary throw ins, released by blocks by Goddard, guelfi and McGrath.
Raz is about to have one of those games that 14 touches turns to 4 goals and a few assists. Rather than being so high up the ground and not being used through the congestion.
We need more unselfish blocks and sheppard’s to help these two jets
It’s pretty rich to call gaff a plodder. He’s barely slow and runs all day long
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Yeah well he’s not quick.
He is also the best endurance runner in the AFL with Tom Scully, who incredibly is also quick as well.
I acknowledged his amazing endurance in my post.
He’s not saad levels of quick, but he’s easily as quick as Zaka imo
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…and Dyson Heppell.
I don’t reckon he is.close to as quick as Zaka.
Brendan Goddard is typically our best runner isn’t he???
Despite all the criticism he actually runs big KM’s to maintain offensive and defensive positioning.
Nope, Dyson is. He is consistently at ~16km
Scully is an outlier.
That’s interesting. I don’t have the AfL map thingy. But I do think Heppell does some amazing running.
I’ll ask my mate where his endurance running sits in terms of the elite players in the comp and report back.
I know certainly Gaff and Scully are held in high regard. With average pace Gaff sometimes can give the illusion of speed because he finds space and he runs at the same speed all game. He does not slow down at all. Hence he has high impact right through time on and last qtrs.
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Yep, that would be good to see.
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I look at the Tracker data on the App for our games.
With a few exceptions, Hepp is usually high up in the Top 5 of total distance covered ranging from low 15’s to mid 16’s kms.
Not sure what the current record is for this year, but I did notice that Whitfield produced a number of 17.1 km covered for our game.
What are Zerrett’s numbers usually?
He goes with Trumpets I think … 
Not his doing but talk about having a bullseye put on your back
Merrett starting to learn his tagging lessons
ESSENDON star Zach Merrett faces a stern test of his improved ability to cope with tags in Sunday’s big match against rivals North Melbourne.
Merrett’s All Australian form last year inevitably meant a target on his back for opposition taggers.
He was struggling earlier this season, most recently against Ed Curnow in the upset round eight loss to Carlton.
But the midfielder had at least 24 possessions in his next five games.
He racked up 30, including 11 contested possessions, in last week’s upset win over West Coast.
“It’s been different – obviously you grow up just running around getting a kick and then you run into the AFL,” Merrett said.
"You try to earn the respect of your teammates and try to get a kick again, and then to be followed by someone from the opposition trying to stop you every week is a bit of an adjustment.
"It’s been a great learning curve.
"There have obviously been ups and downs along that journey … I’ve been beaten by some taggers and beaten some as well.
“It’s always a fun contest, going head-to-head.”
Merrett said coping with taggers remains a work in progress.
He’s certain to have close attention on Sunday from North’s go-to stopper Ben Jacobs.
“I’m not going to say I’ve fully adapted but I’m learning things on the go and I’m certainly seeking out a lot of feedback,” he said.
“I’m not going to win every battle but I’m going to try and win as much as I can.”
It’s well known two-time Brownlow medallist Chris Judd mentors Merrett, while Bombers coach John Worsfold and assistant Hayden Skipworth are also sounding boards.
After winning four of its past five games, Essendon is back in the finals hunt.
It is two games behind eighth-placed North, adding extra importance to Sunday’s clash.
“It doesn’t count for much if you just play one good week,” Merrett said of the big win over the Eagles.
“The position we put ourselves in earlier in the year means we have to keep winning … to have a crack at the end of the season.”
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Max of 15.7km (v Richmond) but usually more like ~13km.
The players that regularly top 15km tend to be Hep, Smith, Zaka, Ambrose and sometimes Goddard (depending on role).
Interesting.
He did play 88% of the richmond game, when he normally plays around 78% roughly.
Richmond game was the anomaly though as Zaka was injured early.
Zerrett wants finals.
Next 2 weeks are vital. Win them and we’re in it up to our eyeballs
I’m prepared for us to go on a huge streak and still not make it. Comp Isn’t as close as last year. We might need to beat almost everyone bar two or three games from here. If we do that though, who knows. If we do, I can see Devon Smith as an icon who has lifted us. Smith, Zerrett amd Fantasia are true gems. They will be highlight package players for years.